The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1883. Immigration.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 846, 19 January 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1883. Immigration.

During the recent visit of Sir Julius Vogel to this colony, there was no subject that he touched on in his speeches more frequently or more earnestly than the necessity for increased immigration to New Zealand. There is a class of politicians among us whose object it is to insist that we should not bring any more people from 1 ngland, and the argument used is that the importation of fresh labor will serve to lower the wages of the working classes. This is the kind of clap-trap that tickles the ears of the mob, and is used at election time to catch the votes of men who know nothing of political economy, and who are too narrow-minded to look beyond the immediate present. But Sir Julius Vogel, in this and all other matters in connection with New Zealand, speaks as bne having authority to deliver an opinion. His words on the subject of immigration were most timely, and will serve to counteract the

influence of the false logic we have referred to. We are now <?n the eve ofwhat promises to be the most prosperous harvest this colony has ever experienced, and already complaints are heard from more than one quarter to the effect that it is impossible to procure enough hands to gather in the grain. Had we recognised sooner the necessity for increased immigration this want would not have existed. Nor was an example wanted to teach us what course we should pursue. For years the Canadian Government has been doing its best to induce a constant stream of emigration to flow from England. We have heard a great deal of the enormous tract of territory in the north-west of Canada, and what was a very short time ago a desolate waste is the now prosperous colony of Manitoba. And yet New Zealand offers more inducement to the right kind of men than does the northern part of America. Our climate is not so severe, the land is richer, and more easily tilled, and if a man is only willing to put his shoulder to the wheel there is no country on the face of the earth where he can more quickly earn an independency than in this colony. Unfortunately the manner in which our immigration policy has been carried out in the past is not above reproach. Many people have been sent to New Zealand who are quite unfitted for a colonial life, while others have been induced by the glowing accounts given of the country by emigration agents to leave their homes with the not unusual result that they have been disappointed in finding things were different to what they had been led to expect. But such mistakes as these are not likely to be repeated. The day of emigration agents is over, and we have found a better way to let people know what the country is like. In this connection we may mention a letter which appeared in our Wellington morning contemporary the other day, written by Mr Arthur Clayden, who is well known as an earnest advocate of immigration. In the course of the letter referred to, the writer says :—“ I would strongly advise the Government to place itself in direct communication with two very important agricultural organisations at ' Home. The Farmers’ Alliance, of which Mr James Howard, M.P., is the head, and I might almost say the heart also, and the National Agricultural Laborers’ Union of which Mr Joseph Arch is the presiding genius. These two great combinations touch the whole agricultural area, and through them ihe British agriculturalists. Capitalists and toilers can be reached. Simplified versions of Mr Rolleston’s Land Bill should be sent to them for distribution, and the most liberal offers in the shape of Government aid that the colony can make should be clearly placed before them. Here, in New Zealand, should be a thoroughly efficient immigration bureau, somewhat after the unique institution at New York, a description of which I sent either to you or to your evening contemporary some time ago. Here the immigrant should get all needed instruction, and find deliverance from every form of imposition.” This latter suggestion seems to us to be a specially happy one, and we hope the Government will see their way to carrying it out.